International Moscow Museum of Animation

On September 15, 2006 the old stagers of the studio Soyuzmultfilm together with the MultFilmVGV Studio launched a unique museum project. The animation director, legendary art director and currently, honorary director of the museum, Leonid Shvartsman, the National Artist of Russia, member of the Nika Academy of Motion Picture Arts and the ASIFA International Animated Film Association, the laureate of the Hollywood to the children US award and the prize For contribution to the profession taken at the XIth Open Russian Festival of Animated Film in Suzdal, inaugurated the first exhibition during this truly great public event. Cutting a symbolic film he initiated the creation the Moscow Museum of Animation fund - the first international animation museum in Russia.

At first, the museum wasn’t international and did not even have permanent premises; it was merely a traveling exhibition showing visitors the process of creating cartoon bands mostly produced during the period of 1960-1980 at the Soyuzmultfilm studio. Perhaps that is why today our museum is often called Soyuzmultfilm museum, and this is true - the first exhibits, which later would form the Patriotic History Hall, were presented by the members of this world famous film studio. Among the items on display you will see articulated puppets, models and sets, machinery and equipment which the cameramen worked with; unique documents that gave life to many famous cartoons, tools, awards, letters, personal belongings of famous artists and directors from private archives. The museum displays the dolls from the cartoons: My Green Crocodile (directed by V. Kurchevsky, 1966), The Boatswain and the Parrot (episodes 1-5), All other way round (directed by M. Kamenetsky, 1974 -1986), Teremok (A Tiny Tower Hut), The Chest, Little Mushroom (directed by S. Kositsin, 2004). One of the central pieces of the Hall of the World History is a personal tracing table of the artist Svetozar Rusakov. It is on this table that the Wolf and the Hare, super-popular characters from the You just wait! cartoon (directed by V. Kotenochkin), were made. Table and other personal items of the artist - an easel, paints, a sketch-book and even a shirt for a newborn artist sewn by his grandmother in 1923 - were donated by Irina Rusakova, daughter of Svetozar Rusakov.

In 2011 alone, the museum received over 100 unique items. On February 24, Leonid Shvartsman gave the Moscow Museum of Animation 39 author's works he made between 1957 and 2002. This collection included drawings and sketches for the cartoons Cheburashka, The Snow Queen, The Mitten, The Kitten named Woof, Beware of Monkies, and others. In May, Inessa Kovalevskaya, innovator and chief producer of such milestone musical cartoons as The Bremen Town Musicians, A Small Cutter (featuring musical hit Chunga-Changa), How the Lion Cub and the Turtle Sang a Song (Oh, I’m basking in the sun...), In the Port (The ships leave the port...) and many others, gave the original phases and sketches of these cartoon artworks. In the same month, the collection was expanded with the works by Galina Shakitskya, director and artistic director of the legendary cartoons Cinderella, Night on Bald Mountain, First Hunt. In August, S. Triandafelidi, artistic director of feature films, donated to the museum the cartoon phases of Christmas (directed by M. Aldashin), and at the end of the year, Galina Melko presented her works for the cartoons Mu-Mu, Papavoz and others. The museum founders did not plan to limit the exhibit by the history of Soviet animation. The cartoon world is wide, and addressing the animation creation process in a single country was not enough...

On September 15, 2010 the Moscow Museum of Animation enters into a partnership agreement with the children's TV channel Nickelodeon (http://www.nickelodeon.ru/moskovskiy-muzey-animatsii/ Nickelodeon) broadcasting in 128 countries. This collaboration allowed the project to overcome the boundaries and reach the international level, for it is obvious that all the limits in the art are conventional.The museum inaugurated the Hall of Foreign Animation. Todaythe Nickelodeon main characters of popular TV series SpongeBob Square Pants, Avatar: Legend of Aang and Dora the Explorer are featured alongsidethe famous characters from around the world: Mickey Mouse, Pink Panther, Bugs Bunny, Ranma, Golden Boy, Luseeta Toel Ul Laputa, and many others created by the Nickelodeon Animation, Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Pictures, Lucasfilm Limited, Studio Ghibli, Kitty Films and other studios. However, overcoming the boundaries was not the only wish of the museum creators, they looked much deeper. The third hall inaugurated in the museum was the Animation History Hall. Animation (Latin for anima - soul, animation) as an art has very ancient roots. The History Hall tells of the earliest discoveries in the field of so-called revival technology. Among the exhibits of this hall there are inventions of the scientists of XIV - XIX centuries, such as antique projector, zoetrope, kinetograph, praxinoscope and, of course, the magic lantern. Also, here you can watch a unique show - the footage of the first animated film in the world, shot by Emile Reynaud prior to (!) the invention of nickelodeon.

After the museum creators erased the borders and penetrated deep into the history, they faced a new challenge - to show visitors what is happening in the cartoon production today. The answer came quickly, and yet a new hall, or rather, a new corridor appeared - the Corridor of Modern History founded by Animakkord, an ultramodern Russian studio working mainly with 3D technology. The studio’s incredibly funny and ironic serial Masha and the Bear is much loved not only by kids but also by the grownup audience. The information on other independent, private studios is also presented on the small stands in the halls. Among them are: Yu.B. Norshteyn Studio, Shar School Studio, Stayer Studio of G.Ya. Bardin, Computer Animation Studio Petersburg, Argus International, Virtual Studio of Ivan Maximov, Ekran, Tema, Solnechny Dom MD, Melnitsa, Christmas Films, Klassika, etc.

The museum exhibition includes over 5 thousand items; a lot more exhibits are carefully stored in the archives. All rooms are equipped with the screens displaying non-stop documentary footage; there is a large number of interactive exhibits and a screening room. There is an experimental cartoon studio, where everyone can try his or her hand at this magical, time-consuming, historically evident, organically penetrating into other forms of art and all the spheres of human life, truly mystical process.

The doors of the Moscow Museum of Animation are always open and welcome you to this exciting world!

The museum creators are thinking again, this time about the future. It is difficult to say what the museum will be, for example, in five years. We plan to create a virtual library, a children's film school, animation amusement arcade and much, much more!

Opening hours for self-examination of the exposition: from 11.00 to 18.00 on weekdays, from 11.00 to 19.00 at weekends. Monday is a day off.Excursion groups are welcome daily seven days a week by appointment. Showing begins - 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00 18.00. Taking orders by phone from 10.00 to 21.00.